No damn wi fi and a stupid computer with a spanish keyboard.... To get an @ you have to do alt and 64 all at the same time on the key pad and then release.... so i will not do an update or try to upload anything from here ... jUST SAY THE ZIP LINES THROUGH THE TREETOPS TODAY WAS REALLY GOOD and we survived..... got some pics to poroove it , but you can't see them yet,

Computer doesn't even have a usb port you can get at, would have to rip the computer out of the cupboard to get at the back....

Trip over from Tortugero to Arenal was good passed some great countryside on the way. Although we did have 1 or 2 slight hic-ups along the way. The first was we were pulled over in the boat just out of Tortuguero by the drugs police, one look at us and the young couple from Spain and they waved us on. Next after lunch in the car we ran over a monkey, the driver had no chance of stopping in time, end of poor monkey L. A bit further down the road there were some roadworks and a truck going the other way hit one of the cones and it got stuck under our car.

But we arrived safely and had a couple of beers.

Sitting by the pool we could see the Arenal Volcano, it's very impressive , classic cone shaped, and just as we were sitting watching a great big plume of smoke and ash erupted from the top followed shortly after by a loud bang, the sound of the eruption

Oh I nearly forgot, it seems that there was an earthquake here yesterday at about 15:00, it was 6.3 in the Richter scale, we didn’t feel it though, I wish we had.

We are on the sky train and trek tomorrow, zip lines through the rainforest canopy, sounds good.

Next day. up and out on the Sky Tram and sky trek, which is a bit misleading really, Sky Tram i am fine with but sky trek? This did not involve any trekking as i know it, basically it is a series of zip wires through the tree tops, great fun if a little bit scary on the first long one, but after that it was really good and comes highly recommended. I really didn’t expect to be going quite so fast, and at the end the brake is a man with a length of rope tied to the cable that he uses to stop you. The technique is to lay back in the harness hold onto the handles cross your legs, bring your knees round your ears and shout Geronimo! As you accelerate up to 50 Mph down this wire just hoping that when you get to the bottom the man with the brake is having a good day...Just as you approach the stopping point the man with the brake shakes the cable, that is the signal to uncross your legs and open them wide enough so that you don’t hit your feet on the cable as the brake has it’s full effect and your legs go skyward and you are brought abruptly to a halt, and then breath a sigh of relief

. That is how it is for most people, but for a special few there is the indignation of not reaching the platform and having to grab the cable before you start to go backwards down the cable to it’s lowest point, and that could be quite a long way away. Once you have the cable in both hands the technique is to turn yourself round and then hand over hand and slowly pull yourself the last few feet to the underworked brake man who then grabs your harness and pulls you to the getting off point, how embarrassing would that be.... well can anyone guess who got stuck on the second longest wire.... no, well it was Milo..

:-)

The Volcano lodge is really nice rooms are nice and big and our one has a great view of the volcano from the garden at the back. I think that is so we know when to run as the thing erupts and the lava comes flowing down the hill. Makes you wonder how these people live with that threat constantly as i don’t believe these things are predictable.

Had a quiet day today bit of sun bathing and swim in the pool and then a few beers. Then it rained really heavy for a few hours.

In the evening we were picked up and taken to the Ecothermales pools. Here there are a series of pools starting at the bottom with the coolest, working your way up through 2 more pools getting hotter all the time and ending in the top pool that is the hottest. Boy was it hot, i think they said it was 114 degrees F, all I know it was boiling my bits so we didn’t stay in there too long

. So we made our way to the next pool down and had a beer and a pina colada (with a cherry in the top), Milo heaven, apart from no bubbles. It was very good, sitting in a hot pool with cold rain coming down drinking a cold beer, not sure my body quite knew what was happening...

It was a great way to spend the evening and get all wrinkled in the process, thoroughly recommended.

Off to Monteverde in the morning, hoping for a bit less rain and a bit cooler as we will be up in the cloud forest. Still haven’t seen any of those colourful tree frogs that costa rica is so famous for, perhaps in the cloud forest.

hey , Colin good to see you are watching our blog. yes the trip has been a bit foody so far, and it still feels like we are on holiday, i guess that will change at some point. not certain about my weight , think i might have lost a bit. Hope you and Jackie are keeping well.

pat bs
on May 25, 2010 at 08:27PM

Dont need to kid us being so clean, it was only the Pants that had to be washed !!after zziipp trip.wheeee follow the monkeys in flight now you know how.DONT.